Self-tailing winches are already known and they are used in particular on sailboats where they serve to keep a cable or rope under tension while it is being wound on the drum of the winch. A user can operate such a winch with one hand only.
Self-tailing winches often include a notched V-groove pulley disposed at the top of the drum. However, a winch of this type is suitable only for a given diameter of cable or a given kind of fiber. As a result, it is necessary, particularly on a sailboat, to have a large number of winches of different sizes suitable for the different ropes used on a boat (haliards, sheets, . . . ).
In addition, prior art winches are often difficult to operate because they provide an inadequate stepdown ratio in the winch drive mechanism. In other cases, manufacturing and maintenance costs are too high because the mechanism is complex.
In addition, winches on boats often provide limited operating safety, in particular because the rotation of the rotating head is liable to cause accidents.
The present invention seeks to remedy the above-mentioned drawbacks, and in particular to enable a large number of different cables or ropes to pass over the same type of winch so as to reduce the number of winches required, particularly on board a boat.
An object of the invention is thus to provide a winch provided with an automatic head ensuring self-tailing of a rope and enabling it to be used without special adjustment over a wide variety of types of rope with rope diameters varying in a ratio of 1 to 2, or with ropes including fibers of different kinds imparting different stiffnesses to the rope.
Another object of the invention is to provide a winch in which manufacture and utilization are improved by virtue of a mechanism providing a large stepdown ratio in a small volume, said mechanism being capable of being made in standardized modular form applicable to winches of different sizes, thereby further reducing manufacturing costs.
Another object of the invention is to improve operation and safety in the use of winches.